Newspaper needs to promote benefits of smaller commission

In the story about letting Warren County residents give their feedback on the size of the county commission, it should have been considered the motion was not properly presented to the commissioners. They did not even have a written copy of the motion, and the commissioners voted to table the motion until the next meeting when the motion could be presented properly.

The motion was to request permission from the state to have it on the ballot. The editorial listed the names of the commissioners who voted to table the motion, but did not list the names of the ones who voted not to table the motion, or the absent vote.

Later after the county executive had left the premises, the presenter of the motion asked for the motion to be brought from the table because the county executive had misrepresented the motion. If he had presented the commissioners with a written motion, there would not have been any question about how it was presented.

In my opinion, if the Southern Standard is interested in its readers and the taxpayers of Warren County the newspaper should:

1. If they are for the reduction, show how it will better serve the taxpayers.

2. Do not go negative on the ones who oppose it.

3. Tell its readers if the cost of meetings is going to be reduced by 50 percent, or if the remaining commissioners will vote themselves a pay raise?
James E. Sandlin
Falla Street
McMinnville